The invention of the present application relates to mailboxes of the rural type which are normally mounted along the side of a road or highway, and is particularly concerned with a signal associated with such mailboxes which will inform the owners of the mailboxes that mail has been deposited therein.
It is common for mailboxes in rural areas to be located at a considerable distance from the residence of the owner. Since it is normally not feasible to keep a continuous watch on the box and since a comparatively long trip will be required, where the distance from the highway or road to the house is great, to determine whether the mail has been delivered, it is desirable to have means associated with the mailbox whereby a resident can be informed that mail has been placed in the mailbox by the mail carrier; this is especially so where the owner of the mailbox is handicapped or disabled.
Without a signalling device of some sort it becomes necessary for the owner of the mailbox, when he does not see the mail carrier, to actually open the door of the mailbox to determine whether or not mail has been deposited therein. In view of this, there has been a number of proposals for automatic signalling devices to indicate when the door of the mailbox has been opened, this being an indication that mail has been delivered to the mailbox since the mail carrier is ordinarily the only person other than the recipient of mail (the owner of the mailbox or a member of his family) to open the mailbox under normal circumstances.
A partial search of the United States patents in this area has disclosed a number of such devices. Such devices have not been widely accepted even though the intended devices would provide a substantial convenience to people who have mailboxes mounted some distance from the house adjacent a road or highway. Accordingly, it is believed that there is a need to provide a signalling device for rural type mailboxes which is practical, reliable, easy to install and operate, and of a design which is relatively economical to manufacture.
A partial search of the U.S. Patents disclosed a large number of devices for use with rural type mailboxes to convey to the owner of a mailbox that the mail carrier had made a delivery to the mailbox. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,318,516, 4,005,816, 4,147,292, 4,182,479, 4,205,778, 4,382,541, 4,491,268, 4,492,335, 4,524,905, 4,570,846, 4,655,390, 4,711,391, 4,728,028, 4,738,392, 4,754,918, 4,756,472, 4,759,496, 4,778,103, 4,793,552, 4,798,326, and 4,811,895 are illustrative of such prior art devices.
Many of these prior art devices are of complicated construction, and thus are expensive and subject to failure. Several of these prior art devices are not adapted to be readily retrofit to existing mailboxes while others are difficult to reset, and thus difficult to use. The instant invention overcomes the numerous disadvantages and deficiencies of the prior art devices.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a signalling device for rural type mailboxes which can be easily installed on an existing mailbox, which can operate reliably and effectively, which does not interfere with the normal operation of the mailbox, and which has a design which lends itself to economical manufacture.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a signalling device which can be easily mounted on a conventional mailbox with minimal damage, if any, to the structural integrity of the mailbox.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a readily attachable and detachable signal device for a mailbox which is automatically tripped when the mailbox door is opened so that a signal is given to the owner of the mailbox that mail has been deposited in the box.
The present invention satisfies these objects by providing a self-contained mailbox signalling device for attachment to a standard mailbox.